We use cookies for certain features and to improve your experience. See our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy to learn more

Leafly

Shop legal, local weed.

Open
advertise on Leafly
ShopDeliveryDispensariesDealsStrainsBrandsProductsCBDDoctorsCannabis 101Social impact
  • Sign in
  • Create account
  • Strains
  • Shop
  • Shop
  • Delivery
  • Deals
  • Dispensaries
  • CBD Stores
  • Brands
  • Products
  • Learn
  • Cannabis 101
  • News
  • Leafly Learn
  • Science of cannabis
  • Doctors
  • Social impact
  • Lab partners
  • Download the Leafly App
  • Advertise on Leafly
    • Leafly.comUSA flag
    • Leafly.caCanadian flag
    • Leafly.deGerman flag
  • Help
  • News
  • Lifestyle
  • Strains & products
  • Industry
  • Growing
  • Health
  • Science & tech
  • Leafly USA
  • Podcasts
  • Learn
Politics

Koch Network Warns Trump Against ‘Failed’ Cannabis Fight

Gage PeakePublished on June 26, 2017 · Last updated July 28, 2020
FILE - In this Aug. 30, 2013 file photo, David Koch speaks in Orlando, Fla. The Koch brothers and their chief lieutenants are warning of a rapidly shrinking window to push their agenda through Congress. No agenda items matter more to the conservative Koch network than the GOP’s promise to overhaul the nation’s tax code and repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care law. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)

The conservative Koch political network is coming out hard against the Trump administration’s plan to step up enforcement of the nation’s cannabis laws, joining a growing group on the political right who are urging the president to push back against drug war hardliners like Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

“You are never going to win the war on drugs. Drugs won,” Mark Holden, one of the influential network’s top leaders, told reporters in Colorado Springs, according to the Denver Post. His statements came as the network opened a three-day retreat at The Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs.

In Denver Post reporter John Frank’s story Sunday, Holden, the general counsel for Koch Industries—the second-largest privately owned company in the US—said the network has disagreed with Sessions’s decision to re-evaluate a federal policy not to interfere in state medical marijuana systems and taken issue with the attorney general’s request that Congress lift restrictions to allow the justice department to crack down on state-legal medical programs. He said Sessions’ stance represented a “failed big government top-down approach,” adding that “we should let the states decide.”

In a letter sent in May and made public earlier this month, Sessions urged Congress to roll back a protection known as the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment, which prohibits the Justice Department from using federal funds to prevent certain states “from implementing their own state laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.” The rule has stymied at least one high-profile case against a California cannabis business.

Charles and David Koch have spent millions to further their conservative political goals. Some of those aims overlap with policies supported by liberals. Holden, for example, is currently in charge of a network-backed effort to address overcriminalization and criminal justice reform.

Earlier this month, another conservative voice—longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone—came out in opposition to the administration’s threatening stance toward state-legal cannabis. In an interview with Leafly last week, Stone called Sessions “a Southern conservative hard-core right-wing drug warrior who has probably never smelled marijuana in his life and has probably seen the movie ‘Reefer Madness’ a hundred times.”

Stone filed paperwork last week with the Internal Revenue Service to create the United States Cannabis Coalition, a nonprofit political organization with the same tax-exempt status as super-PACs that influence politicians and elections.

Related Stories

Shop highly rated dispensaries near you

Showing you dispensaries near
See all dispensaries
  • Loading...
    Loading...Loading...
    Loading...
    Loading...Loading...
    Loading...Loading...
  • Loading...
    Loading...Loading...
    Loading...
    Loading...Loading...
    Loading...Loading...
  • Loading...
    Loading...Loading...
    Loading...
    Loading...Loading...
    Loading...Loading...
  • Loading...
    Loading...Loading...
    Loading...
    Loading...Loading...
    Loading...Loading...
  • See all dispensaries
See all dispensaries
Jeff Sessionslawsmedical marijuanatrump administration
Gage Peake
Gage Peake
Gage Peake is a former staff writer for Leafly, where he specialized in data journalism, sports, and breaking news coverage. He's a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
View Gage Peake's articles

The latest in Politics

  • How US import tariffs are impacting cannabis prices and products image
    How US import tariffs are impacting cannabis prices and products
    Leafly Staff
  • Ohioans must activate to defend cannabis freedoms from lawmakers image
    Ohioans must activate to defend cannabis freedoms from lawmakers
    David Downs
  • Montanans must activate to protect legalization in 2025 image
    Montanans must activate to protect legalization in 2025
    David Downs
  • Analysis: Don’t hold your breath for legalization under Trump 2.0 image
    Analysis: Don’t hold your breath for legalization under Trump 2.0
    David Downs
Get good reads, local deals, and strain spotlights delivered right to your inbox.

By providing us with your email address, you agree to Leafly's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.



Stay In Touch

Receive updates on new products, special offers, and industry news.

Something went wrong, please try again.

By providing us with your email address, you agree to Leafly’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Leafly mobile app
Get high for less.
Download the Leafly app.
Download Leafly: Marijuana Reviews on the App StoreDownload Leafly Marijuana Reviews on Google Play

Business Solutions
  • List your store
  • List your CBD store
  • List your brand
  • List your practice
  • Business log in

About Leafly
  • About us
  • Careers
  • Newsroom
  • Investor relations
  • Contact us
  • FAQs
  • Accessibility

Dispensaries in
  • Los Angeles
  • Seattle
  • Portland
  • San Francisco
  • Toronto
  • Detroit

Privacy & Terms
  • Terms of use
  • Commercial terms of use
  • Privacy policy
  • Do not sell my personal information

* Statements made on this website have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Information provided by this website or this company is not a substitute for individual medical advice.


© 2025 Leafly, LLC
Leafly and the Leafly logo are registered trademarks of Leafly, LLC. All Rights Reserved.